Clock in taskbar and Icons that dont affect start menu

[robj19]

this is a two part question. For some reason there is not a clock in my taskbar as i use my device. If I am not on the home screen i dont know what time it is when using my phone. Also I actually like the new touch flow on this phone but I also like custom icons. When I had the custom icons installed it affected my start menu. Normally when you hit the hard key windows logo a full screen list of your chosen apps comes up. But when the custom icons are installed it turns that into a small drop down box like it was on the Mogul. Does anybody have or know of any custom icon sets that down affect the start menu? Thanks guys.